1. Field
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to configuration data, and in particular to a property sheet system for a clustered system having multiple instances.
2. Background
A clustered system may include a collection of server nodes and other components that are arranged to cooperatively perform computer-implemented tasks, such as providing client computers with access to a set of services and resources. A clustered system may be used in an enterprise software environment to handle a number of tasks in parallel. Typically, a load balancing algorithm is implemented within a clustered system to distribute incoming requests in some manner among multiple server nodes. One aspect of a clustered system is its scalability as it has the flexibility to enable additional cluster elements to be incorporated with the existing cluster elements. Additionally, a clustered system also provides the flexibility to enable existing cluster elements, or components within a cluster element, to be upgraded or modified.
Typically, components, such as files, applications, objects or hardware devices, contained within a clustered system have a number of configuration properties associated with them. As a clustered system grows, the number and types of components contained in the clustered system that require configuration also increases and the complexity associated with the management of the configuration parameters of these component increases correspondingly. Typically, configuration parameters associated with a particular component or a set of components may be grouped and organized in a separate property sheet. The property sheet may be a file or a data structure having a number of entries to define a set of properties associated with one or more components contained within a clustered system. Accordingly, by selecting an appropriate property sheet associated with a particular component or a set of components, a user can use the selected property sheet to display and edit configuration parameters associated with the component(s). The data contained in a property sheet may be accessed, during startup, by the clustered system to control the operating characteristics of a corresponding component based on the configuration parameters set forth in the property sheet.